Before Engels wised up, the proposed title of Communist Manifesto was Confession of Faith. As Engels wrote in a letter to Marx in late 1847, before the work’s publication in 1848: “Give a little thought to the Confession of Faith. I think we would do best to abandon the catechetical form and call the thing
A Communist Manifesto — or a Confession of Faith? Read More »
Immanuel Kant is arguably the most influential philosopher in the last two centuries. But how could the strict Kant have anything to do with the often-nihilistic modernist and postmodernist art worlds? In this interview conducted by artist and art critic Jan-Ove Tuv, philosopher Stephen Hicks discuss Kant’s general philosophy and his philosophy of art. Transcription
Stephen Hicks interview on Kant and Modern Art — transcript of the Norway interview Read More »
Anton Chekhov is a great writer, in large part because he follows ruthlessly a principle of selectivity named after him: “Chekhov’s gun” is principle of writing that says that every element in a narrative must be essential and irreplaceable, and anything that is neither must be eliminated. But I don’t like reading Chekhov. I read
Chekhov’s artistic choices (and the artist as a god) Read More »
Stephen Hicks discusses postmodernist Henry Giroux on education. This is from Part 14 of his Philosophy of Education course. See also Professor Hicks’s full series on Philosophy of Education at YouTube via these playlists.
Henry Giroux on Education: against Modernity and White Male Eurocentrism Read More »
Ayn Rand Center Europe invited me and and Craig Biddle to Belgrade to debate whether Objectivism is an open or closed philosophy. I argued for open and Mr. Biddle argued for closed. The following recording of the debate does not show the slides I used with quotations and other materials, so I am posting my
Open Objectivism or Closed? PowerPoint of my debate presentation Read More »
The character Gail Wynand pursues a use-and-be-used career strategy. Wynand uses strong-arm tactics when necessary in building up his newspaper’s market; he manipulates his employees with money to break their integrity; he fires those (like Dominique) who refuse to bend; and he lets the lowest-common-denominator of public taste dictate the content of the newspaper he
Wynand’s power strategy [80th anniversary of *The Fountainhead* series] Read More »
Reprising this classic from the Department of Collegial Zingers: here is W. K. Clifford on an intellectual acquaintance: “He is writing a book on metaphysics, and is really cut out for it; the clearness with which he thinks he understands things and his total inability to express what little he knows will make his fortune
W. K. Clifford on philosophical writing style Read More »
Ayn Rand was a philosopher and an artist, and she carefully distinguished the status of works that are discoveries from those that are creations: “A scientific or philosophical discovery, which identifies a law of nature, a principle or a fact of reality not previously known, cannot be the exclusive property of the discoverer because (a)
Open Objectivism or Closed? Philosophy as *discovered* facts, not *created* fiction Read More »